Which to use
“marred” is an adjective and “marvel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,839
- “marred” frequency rank
- #5,521
- “marvel” frequency rank
- 31360
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marred | marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Spoiled; harmed or damaged. | That which causes wonder; a prodigy; a portent. |
Where the eye mixes marred and marvel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: marred vs marvel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marred is /mɑːd/ while marvel is /ˈmɑɹvl̩/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marred is recorded at frequency rank #25,839, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɑːd/. marvel is at rank #5,521, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑɹvl̩/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 31360, this pair ranks #346,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of marred vs marvel
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "marred": d. Private to "marvel": lv.
"marred" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "marvel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "marred" and "marvel" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "marred" vs "marvel" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "marred" and "marvel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "marred" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marvel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marred" and "marvel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marne vs marred". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #346,815 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.